Achim Kaufmann

Last year the pianist, composer and bandleader Achim Kaufmann visited the Jazzfest Berlin to accept the Albert Mangelsdorff Prize, a biennial award presented by the union of German jazz musicians to an outstanding figure. Born in Aachen in 1962, Kaufmann studied at the Cologne Conservatory with Dave Holland, Steve Lacy, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis and others. Last November his short set with his trio and the poet Gabriele Guenther was so striking and so well received that it seemed natural to invite him back to present a new work in front of a larger audience. He chose to revisit a piece called “SKEIN” which he recorded several years ago with a sextet and which he has now reworked for a seven-piece ensemble, including electronics and voice. Julia Neupert of SWR has praised his “nuanced contemporary sound language that encompasses poetry, energy and abstraction in equal measure.”
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